{"id":106367,"date":"2025-08-29T22:07:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T22:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/106367\/"},"modified":"2025-08-29T22:07:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T22:07:08","slug":"prospects-jimmy-crooks-cesar-prieto-to-join-cardinals-as-alec-burleson-hits-il-sources","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/106367\/","title":{"rendered":"Prospects Jimmy Crooks, C\u00e9sar Prieto to join Cardinals as Alec Burleson hits IL: Sources"},"content":{"rendered":"

CINCINNATI \u2014 The St. Louis Cardinals are calling up two top prospects \u2014 catcher Jimmy Crooks and infielder C\u00e9sar Prieto \u2014 ahead of their three-game series against the Cincinnati Reds, multiple league sources tell The Athletic.<\/p>\n

Alec Burleson (wrist) and Yohel Pozo (concussion) will be placed on the injured list as the corresponding active roster moves. The Cardinals had open 40-man roster spots, allowing both Crooks and Prieto to be added without additional transactions. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch was the first to report the prospect promotions.<\/p>\n

Both Crooks and Prieto entered the season among the organization\u2019s top-20 prospects<\/a>. Crooks was ranked No. 8 in the system by\u00a0The Athletic\u2019s\u00a0Keith Law, while Prieto was listed at No. 15. They are expected to be available Friday. Both will be making their major-league debuts.<\/p>\n

The loss of Burleson is a significant blow to a Cardinals\u2019 offense that has struggled since the All-Star break. Burleson missed a game last weekend against the Tampa Bay Rays with right wrist soreness, but was able to play through it for most of the week. He smacked his first-career walk-off homer in Monday\u2019s 7-6 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates, but was pulled from Thursday\u2019s 4-1 win in the eighth inning. Burleson\u2019s .286 average and .451 slugging percentage lead the team, while his .788 OPS is tied for first and his 16 homers rank second. St. Louis is now without its top two offensive contributors, with Brendan Donovan (left groin) still several days from beginning a rehab assignment<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pozo took a foul tip off the mask in the top of the third inning Thursday, but remained in the game. He will be placed on the seven-day concussion IL.<\/p>\n

Crooks, 24, has spent the entirety of the 2025 season with Triple-A Memphis, hitting .274\/.337\/.441 with 14 homers and 21 doubles. He was named the organization\u2019s minor-league player of the year last season after winning the Texas League\u2019s most valuable player award with Double-A Springfield.<\/p>\n

Prieto, who was acquired by St. Louis from the Baltimore Orioles in 2023 as a key piece in the Jack Flaherty trade, is hitting .295 with an .807 OPS over 107 games for Memphis.<\/p>\n

More roster changes are expected over the course of the next few days. Centerfielder Victor Scott II (left ankle sprain) will begin a rehab assignment with Springfield on Friday. The Cardinals are also preparing to be without first baseman Willson Contreras, who is in the middle of appealing a six-game suspension<\/a> by Major League Baseball for his actions after being ejected during Monday\u2019s game. Active rosters are also set to expand from 26 players to 28 on Sept. 1.<\/p>\n

This story will be updated.<\/p>\n

(Photo of Prieto: Joe Robbins \/ Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\"Connections:\"Connections:<\/p>\n

Aug 29, 2025<\/p>\n

Connections: Sports Edition<\/p>\n

Spot the pattern. Connect the terms<\/p>\n

Find the hidden link between sports terms<\/p>\n

Play today’s puzzle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CINCINNATI \u2014 The St. Louis Cardinals are calling up two top prospects \u2014 catcher Jimmy Crooks and infielder…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":106368,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82,3982],"class_list":["post-106367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mlb","tag-sports","tag-st-louis-cardinals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106367\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}